


The Adventures of Shadowman and Blankman

by lavenderhobi



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, Alternate Universe - Not K-Pop Idols, Awkward Conversations, Awkward Crush, Books, Boys In Love, Characters Writing Fanfiction, Closeted Character, Coming Out, Crush at First Sight, Crushes, Dreams, Emotional, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Falling In Love, First Crush, First Love, Fluff, High School, Jeon Wonwoo & Wen Jun Hui | Jun Are Best Friends, Jun and Ming Hao are Cousins, Jun is Popular, Light Angst, Love, M/M, Mentioned SEVENTEEN Ensemble, Platonic Xu Ming Hao | The8/Wen Jun Hui | Jun, Romantic Fluff, Secret Crush, Shy Xu Minghao, Slow Romance, Socially Awkward Xu Minghao, Soft Wen Jun Hui | Jun, Student Jeon Wonwoo, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Wen Jun Hui | Jun & Xu Ming Hao | The8 are Related, Wen Jun Hui | Jun is a Sweetheart, Xu Ming Hao | The8 is Bad at Feelings, Xu Ming Hao | The8-centric, china line are cousins, comic books, introvert Minghao, wonwoo is bi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-21
Updated: 2019-05-19
Packaged: 2019-08-27 01:05:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16692442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lavenderhobi/pseuds/lavenderhobi
Summary: Minghao isn’t the most talkative in the bunch, that’s his cousin Jun. It isn’t a problem until he meets the new kid, Wonwoo. Will he be the Blankman that Minghao aka Shadowman needs?





	1. Real Blankman

Minghao sat impatiently on the grass, cross legged and anticipating his cousin’s surprise. Junhui hid a secret inside the back of his T-shirt, ensuring Minghao wasn’t able to find out before his big reveal. “You ready, Hao?”

“Yess!! Please, just show me already!!” Minghao said, bouncing up and down restlessly.

“Okaaay… Ta da!” Junhui said as he brought the surprise out. He held a comic book up in the air, arms in a 45 degree angle to mimic the reveal of an incredible treasure. Minghao stared in pure awe at book, somehow Junhui was able to get the brand new addition to the Shadowman and Blankman comic, his favorite pair of superheros. Shadowman had the power of Umbrakinesis, meaning he was able to control and manipulate shadows of both himself and of others. Most of the time he would travel within his shadow to avoid any chance of being physically hurt. His partner in crime was Blankman, a hero with the powers of Mental Manipulation and Telekinesis. Right before attacking his foes, he would wipe their memory, thus leaving their mind at a blank. Minghao adored the duo with all his heart.

“How did you get it?! It came out yesterday!” Minghao asked.  
  
“My dad knows a guy, but that’s not important! Let’s read it!”

Junhui flipped open to the first page, making sure that his cousin is able to at least see the pictures. He wasn’t able to read all of it, so he read aloud for the younger to fully understand what was going on. Junhui read in cinematic voices to entertain and kindle the young one’s imagination.

Minghao stayed silent throughout all of the story, absorbing all the fictional action and recreating the astonishing scenes of bravery in his head. Every punch, every kick, every mind wipe and every time Shadowman hurt his foes via shadow manipulation left Minghao in awe. He longed to be as amazing as Shadowman. As much as he wished his cousin would be Blankman, he stated previously that he’d rather have the power of invisibility. Respecting his cousin’s decision, it left Minghao having to find his own Blankman.

 

Where would he find a guy like that?

 

~~~

 

Minghao fucking hated high school. Everyone, including him, were only full of false, mandatory smiles, and there was so much obnoxious drama that wouldn’t be relevant in 10 years. He hated how people actually put effort in their outfits, wearing high heels when most of them had to walk across campus several times a day within a passing period of 6 minutes. The fact that the option of fashion over comfort was highly chosen over made him laugh as he sat in his seat with one of the thousands of black sweaters and sweatpants he owned.

The only fine thing about high school was that it gave him and his cousin to talk about on weekends. Their parents were extremely close, so every friday night they would immediately lock themselves in one of their rooms and talk mainly gossip, mirroring their parents who would talk in the living room. Junhui did most of the talking though, he was the popular one of the duo.

Minghao had never been the most talkative kid in the world. He felt awkward whenever he had to collaborate with others in school projects, he never really opened up to anyone but his cousin, and he was usually found in the library at lunch either rereading a Shadowman and Blankman comic or a regular fiction novel. He was a nice guy, it was just hard to open up to people. Especially since most people won’t remember him in years. He didn’t really have friends, let alone a _best_ friend since cousins don’t count. He was basically the polar opposite of Junhui.

Junhui went through a constant cycle of friends, and everyone seemed to like him or at least the thought of him. He was very handsome and was able to make use of his impressive wardrobe daily. You would never catch him wearing something that didn’t have effort put into it. Junhui was also extremely protective of his cousin. Minghao had dealt with issues of bullying in the past, being called racial slurs and other offensive terms. He got suspended once because their dumb principal only saw him beat the bullies’ asses and not them actually hurting Minghao. Word spread out quickly, and Minghao had been left alone since then.

High school sucks, but Minghao is already a Junior. He might as well finish it.

Minghao slumped into his chair in the very back of his math class. With his hoodie up, ears plugged in playing chill r&b, and head down on his desk, he was ready to ignore the entire class for the day. Minghao never payed attention in this class especially simply because the teacher didn’t give a shit about the lessons either and often just wrote down the lesson pages in their textbooks and then opened up Netflix on the projector. Sometimes Minghao would watch whatever movie he chose, and sometimes he would try and read through the bellicose noise of his classmates. Today he felt especially drained, so he was simply going to take a nap.

 

~ ~ ~

 

_Minghao sighed as he sat on the rooftop of a building. Shouldn’t being a superhero be more interesting? All of the people down below were enjoying themselves, laughing and talking without a care in the world. Cars drove by safely, people crossed the street safely, couldn’t something just happen that wasn’t safe to give Minghao something to do?!_

_Minghao sighed as he tilted his head toward the night sky. Orion’s belt twinkled gladly above him as he exhaled into the navy blue atmosphere. Maybe he deserves a day off…_

_-thud-_

_Minghao didn’t flinch nor bother to look back._

_“Might as well go back home. It seems like a slow night tonight.”_

_“Are you sure, Minghao?”_

_Huh? ‘Minghao?’ Blankman never referred to him by his real name-_

_Minghao turned around to see someone new. He was tall, lean, and handsome. Really fucking handsome. He had dark hair and coal black eyes. His facial features were so sharp and perfect that it intimidated Minghao. And he was crystal clear as day. The Blankman in his dreams was usually fuzzy and generic, why was this stranger so… real?_

 

_Is he the real Blankman?_

 

_Minghao sat speechless. Who was this guy? How does he know him?_

_The stranger only smiled at him. Even his smile was so charming. He came closer to Minghao, eventually sitting down right next to him. Minghao couldn’t stop staring at him because holy shit who w a s this guy?_

_He turned around to look Minghao back straight into his eyes. He scooted closer to him, very close to him._

 

_The stranger then kissed Minghao on the cheek._

 

_~ ~ ~_

 

Minghao shot back up in his seat. He drowsily checked his phone for the time, a minute until lunch. As he put on his bag and gathered his things, he continued to wonder about the dream.

Who- he _what_? He got kissed by a stranger… who knew him as Minghao and not Shadowman. That’s a first.

Minghao was set on autopilot mode towards the library as he tried to remember as much as he could about the dream. Damn his memory and damn when dreams only last like a minute after you wake up. He sat down at his usual table pondering what it could mean. He didn’t even bother pulling out another issue of Shadowman and Blankman from the shelves.

 

What was it? First it was hyper-realistic guy, then “ _Minghao…_ ”, and then… kiss. That’s all he could get. But there should be more! He definitely must have missed something!

 

“Um, excuse me?”

 

Minghao looked up to see him.

 

It was _him_.

 

“Uh...hello.” Minghao said.

“Do you know where the comic books are? The lady at the counter said I should ask you about anything comic book related.” He said in a nice, velvety voice.

 

He’s even more handsome in real life.

 

“Uh yeah I j- yeah hold up.” Minghao said as he awkwardly knocked over the chair he was sitting on as he stood up. He eventually lead the stranger towards the comic book section. “Is there anything you’re looking for? Like specifically?”

“Oh, I need um… one sec.” He said as he took out a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket. “I need a ‘Shadowman and Blankman’ comic.”

Minghao couldn’t help but let out a small squeal of happiness which he tried to pull off as a cough. “Haha yeah, that’s a good comic.”

“The lady told me you know everything about the comics. Is it true?”

“Heh, yeah. They’re pretty much my life. Especially this one. Is there like a certain issue you need or…”

“Uh, I think anyone will do.”

“Oh okay. Here let me get-“ Minghao said as he reached up to get what he knows is one of the best issues of the comic. He pulled it down and handed it to the stranger. Minghao wanted to make eye contact, but felt intimidated and just stared at the floor.

“Thank you…, uh, sorry I didn’t get your name.”

“Oh it’s okay, I’m Minghao.”

“Well I’m Wonwoo, and I’m pretty new here so I don’t know a lot of people here. Maybe we’ll get to know each other more soon. You seem nice.”

“I, thanks.” was all that Minghao could say before his confidence shut down. He simply gave a weak smile as the other walked away.

 

 _“_ Wonwoo…”

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My first Seventeen fic WOOOO


	2. So Fucking Handsome

“...And then Mingyu was saying bullshit like “ _I haven’t seen Soonyoung in a week_ .” Like, who do you think I am?! I’m not an idiot! Those hickeys were from Soonyoung!” 

Minghao giggled at the frustration his cousin expelled in his story. Junhui always was quite the storyteller, often getting so invested in his gossip and even occasional small drama. Every week was a new name dealing with a new problem. No matter how tiring it sounded, Junhui never seemed to get too annoyed or too bothered by whatever So and So did to him or said.

Junhui sighed, “Mingyu can be such a—fucking I don’t know how to say it. He thinks I can’t handle anything, like I can’t keep a secret. I can definitely keep a secret!”

“Don’t you tell me everything that happens in your friends lives? Even if I haven’t met them?”

“Well, yeah-”

“And isn’t some of the shit you tell me come from secrets?”

“...yeah…”

“So you can’t keep a secret at all!” Minghao laughed.

“But you’re family! It doesn’t count!”  
  
“It does too count you fucking idiot!” Minghao said as they both fell into laughter.

“It doesn’t count because you’re like—a therapist. You’re not gonna go up to Vernon and punch the shit out of him because of that one thing with Josh.”

“Maybe I will.”  
  
“Maybe I’ll drop kick your ass if you do!” Junhui said, doing some made up kung fu gesture.

As the laughter died down, Minghao asked “Is that all for the week?”

“I think so,” Junhui replied, “I already talked about Seungcheol and Chan, right?”

“Yeah, and about Seungkwan and that white girl he’s trying to serenade.”

“Oh then yeah, that’s pretty much all of it. Why? You got someone in mind?”

  


_“Should I?” Minghao thought to himself._  
  


_“Yes. I should.”_  


 

“There’s this guy I met in the library the other day.”

“Oooh, what’s his name?” Junhui said, scooting closer to Minghao on the floor.

“He said his name was Wonwoo.”

“Oh shit, you met _Wonwoo_?”

“The fuck you say his name like that for? Is he mean or something? Does he have a bad rep?”

“No, he’s hella nice. I just know you really well, how you don’t like interacting with ‘popular’ people. He came from Seattle, I think? He’s not a chatterbox, but he can keep a conversation going if you talk about the right things.

He’s so fucking handsome too, like I saw a bunch of girls like fawning over him saying how cute he is. Fuck, the first thing I heard about him was how good looking he is. I was like ‘Nah, people are probably just overreacting’, but I met him in my Anatomy class and just damn. He’s one handsome dude. He’s like the only real “soft boy” I’ve seen in person. Like, he has the “Guy in a denim jacket and a beanie drinking a Frappuccino while typing a college essay” aesthetic nailed. I see why a lot of girls think he’s cute.

Now, you know how many girlfriends I’ve had, but the fuckers so handsome he might turn me gay.”

Minghao laughed a bit uncomfortably. _“Ironic.”_

“How’d you meet him?”

“He needed a comic book and-“

“Oh no fucking way. He’s a comic book nerd? Fuck I knew he was the book type, but I didn’t think he’d be into comics. Did you befriend him because of Shadowman and Blankman?”

“Dude, let me fucking finish!” Minghao teased, “He needed a comic, so I took him to the section. Yeah, he needed a Shadowman and Blankman comic, but I did _not_ befriend him only because of that. He probably just needed it for an English assignment anyways.

I don’t even think we’re technically friends yet. He just said I seemed nice and that he’s new and that we might get to know each other later on and stuff.”

“You should talk to him more! He’s really cool, I doubt he’ll give you trouble. Wonwoo seems like the type to be able to make friends easily.”

  
“Ehh, I don’t know. You know how I am with other people.”  
  
“Can you at least put effort to make _one_ friend this year? Pleeaaaassseee?”

Minghao shrugged. “I’m just not the people type.”  
  
“You hate everyone that makes contact with you.”  
  
“Because people are fake and shit.”  
  
“But not everyone is!”  
  
“You have a new story each week about fake shit people do!”  


“But- That’s not- Alright fine. Yeah people are fake, but not everyone! Wonwoo doesn’t seem like the fake type, and you know that.”

The image of Wonwoo’s smile appeared in Minghao’s mind. The fluttering of his heart and the urge to wrap him in a warm embrace followed as well. “Okay, maybe I can befriend him.” he said. _“Maybe more than befriend.” Minghao thought._

“Great!” Junhui cheered, “I’ll help you, I can tell him all about you.”  
  
“What are you gonna tell him? That I suck at making friends because I have trust issues due to a history of bullying and insecurities?”

“...No...I was gonna say that you’re cool and shit...you alright, man?”  
  
“I, yeah, sorry, I just—I’m kinda worried, y’know?”  
  
Junhui went over to pat Minghao on the back. “Don’t worry, dude. I’ll help you out. You can trust me with anything.”  
  
Minghao sighed. Junhui really was trustworthy, he’s always been. They’ve been close since birth, maybe even earlier. But then again, one thing can ruin everything. Like how Minghao likes guys and Junhui doesn’t.

 

“Yeah...I trust you.”

  



	3. God Damn It, I Have a Crush

Junhui made his way towards his desk in his 6th period. The vacant seat adjacent to him was reserved for Wonwoo, who had about a minute left before the tardy bell rang. Junhui collected his thoughts, what questions does he have to ask?  _ “You met my cousin, Minghao the other day, right? Do you think you wanna be friends with him? He’s nice, I promise, it’s just that he’s not exactly a people person…, but he’s nice, I swear.” _

Junhui sighed a bit of his pent up anxiety away at the sight of Wonwoo entering through the doorway. He held a full lunch tray in his hand as he stepped in, he probably was last in line or something. Luckily, their anatomy teacher was really chill and let him come in despite the bell ringing. As Wonwoo got to his seat, Junhui made sure to greet him first, trying not to make it obvious that he needed something from him. 

Junhui thought it was the perfect time to start small talk as their teacher started to pass out their new note packet. “Why’d you come in so late, man? You’re like usually one of the first people in here.”

Wonwoo bit into his apple and said with a swollen cheek, “I lost track of time and not only forgot to get my lunch but eat it as well.” He scoffed, “I’m a fuckin’ idiot.”

“What were you doing that got you distracted?”

He swallowed hard, “I got lost in this really good comic book. Sounds geeky, I know. I don’t usually read comic books, but I had to for a Creative Writing assignment and god damn did I get too invested in it.”

 

Bingo.

 

“What’s it called?” Junhui knew damn well what it was called.

Wonwoo swallowed the gigantic bite of his burrito he took before replying. “Shadowman and Blankman. This guy recommended it to me, and now I’m hooked.”

“Wait, who was it?” Junhui said, trying his best to act like he didn’t know who the ‘guy’ was.

“He said his name was Minghao.”

Junhui grinned, “Minghao? Dude, that’s my cousin!”

Wonwoo turned and looked at Junhui with raised eyebrows. “Really? He’s your cousin?”

“Yeah! He’s really tall and thin and has a black mullet kinda haircut right? That’s him. He loves that series, he’s always has since we were kids.”

“No way,” Wonwoo said, “he looks nothing like you.”

“Eh, we’re cousins on my moms side. But yeah, he’s really cool. He’s just really shy, not much of a people person.”

“So basically you got the popular gene and he didn’t?” Wonwoo joked. “Nah, I’m just kidding, he seemed nice. Something about him felt right when I talked to him. He didn’t say much, but he just seemed like he’s a genuine nice guy. I don’t know, maybe I’m just thankful for him introducing me to the Shadowman and Blankman series.”

“He’s really nice, I promise you. I’m not just saying that because we’re related. Even if we weren’t, he’d be one of, if not my number one, best friends. He’s so chill, and I can talk to him about anything And he listens, like,  _ actually _ listens,” Junhui praised.

“Really? He sounds great.”

“He is, once you get to know him, he’s really cool.”

“I bet,” Wonwoo said as he thanked the teacher while grabbing his new packet of ‘fill in the blank’ notes, “does he usually hang out in the library?”

“Yeah, he doesn’t really like all the noise and shit the freshman make. He’s the ‘silence is golden’ type of guy.” Junhui said. 

“Is he shy?” Wonwoo asked.

“Uh, yeah, he kinda is.”

“Mmm,” Wonwoo nodded, “I could kinda tell from the way he talked and stuff. He seemed alone in the library.”   
  
“Yeah, he’s not the best with cliques or popularity,” Junhui tried his best not to say ‘Please talk to my cousin, he needs friends.’, “but he lets nice people get close. Nice and genuine people.”   
  
“Ah, so he just doesn't like fake people.”

“Yeah, exactly that.”

“That’s kinda wise y’know, only letting people that definitely won’t hurt him in. I respect that, saves drama.”   
  
“It does,” Junhui sighed, preparing himself for the big question. “You know, I bet he’d appreciate it if you tell him how much you like the comic tomorrow at lunch. He’ll adore you if you do that.”

Wonwoo looked at Junhui and smiled, “Sure, I don’t really hang out with people at lunch anyways. Maybe he can change that.”    


Junhui wanted to jump up and cheer out his joy, but all that was allowed to come out was a “Sweet! Alright, then.” Junhui took out his phone and opened up the texting app they use.

  
  


**JooneHwii:** DUDE GUESS WHAT

 

~ ~ ~ 

 

“Are you sure about this Jun? You know how have the conversation skills of a newborn baby.” Minghao asked.

“You’ll be fine, now go out there and get ‘em, tiger!” Junhui said as he pushed Minghao out of the library and into the cafeteria. Wonwoo wore a pastel yellow sweater and torn black skinny jeans. He scrolled through his social media while simultaneously eating frozen fruit juice with a spork, Minghao started to get nervous, he wasn’t sure if it was from the intimidation of his nice outfit (Minghao wore  _ dark gray _ sweatpants instead of the usual black for this special occasion.) or the fact that even when doing the bare minimum, Wonwoo looked so... _ good _ .

Minghao swallowed hard as Junhui called Wonwoo’s name to get his attention. Wonwoo looked up from his phone and grinned while patting the seat next to him for Minghao to sit. Every footstep felt like a mile to Minghao. His hands started to tremor, and he wished he could reach into his chest and rip out his heart to stop the fucking annoying thumping. 

The two finally reached the table, but Junhui didn’t take a seat. “Jun, aren’t you gonna sit?” Minghao asked. “My econ teacher gave me lunch detention for using my phone.” Junhui said. 

Minghao knew that was a lie, Junhui just wanted to leave the two alone. 

“Ah, that sucks. It’s okay, you’ll be here tomorrow, right?” Wonwoo asked.

“I don’t know, my friend wants me to join him in this club party tomorrow.” Junhui also lied. Minghao knew he didn’t have any close friends in any clubs.    


“Oh, well, I guess some other time then.” Wonwoo said. Junhui said his goodbyes as he left the two alone.

Minghao was mute. As much as he wanted to start the conversation, his mind was left blank. He cursed his throat for reserving his voice only for Junhui and his brain for constantly telling him ‘RUN. GET OUT OF THERE, JUST RUN.’ Minghao shuddered at the thought of confident, carefree Wonwoo having to view the emo chihuahua in front of him. How pathetic of him.

“I bet your cousin is just trying to get us to hook up.” Wonwoo said laughing to himself.

Minghao nearly choked on air.

“Heh...nah I don’t think so.” Minghao muttered.

Wonwoo smiled, “Ay dude, that Shadowman and Blankman fic you recommended, it’s so good! I really underestimated it at first solely due to the artwork on the cover, which is something that should be a rule of thumb not to do as a bookworm. I was blown away by the flow of everything! Especially the premise of the villain! I love how there were subtle hints at the beginning that showed . . . “

Minghao fell under Wonwoo’s spell and was floating. Time itself stopped to listen to Wonwoo’s low, velvety voice. Minghao felt himself get more and more lured into Wonwoo’s enchanting personality. His words were muffled by Minghao’s consciousness that decided to focus on his ethereal appearance rather than his input. The now irrefutable crush that he has on Wonwoo is only being fueled more and more the longer he sits in front of him. 

“Minghao?”

Minghao snapped back to reality, as well as being pulled back down by gravity. “Oh, sorry. I’m glad you liked it!”   
  
“Yeah! It was so great!”   
  
“Um, which one do you like more?” Minghao asked.

“What do you mean?”   
  
“Oh, uh, between Shadowman and Blankman.”

“Ah, I would have to say Shadowman. Personally, I relate more to Blankman, but Shadowman is such an interesting character to me. The umbrakinesis thing is so cool since you don’t really see that as the main superhero’s powers in most media. I’m glad they gave it to a main character instead of a side character. If you’re asking about who  _ I _ see myself as, then I would say Blankman because...I don’t know I can just visualize myself in his place more than Shadowman, but they’re both cool in my opinion.”   
  
Minghao almost screamed.

“Heh, that’s cool.” was all that he could come up with.

“I bet you’re not interested, huh?”   
  
“Wh-what?” Minghao panicked.   
  
“I bet you’re a Shadowman and Blankman expert. You probably can recite each issue by heart, you probably don’t care about my dumb opinion. Or maybe you’ve heard it before.” Wonwoo said with a smile.   
  
Minghao sighed in relief, “Oh, no, it’s okay. I think y- um, I think you’re okay.”

“I’m okay?”   
  
“Like, y- you’re- the opinion. It’s okay. Fine. It’s not bad.”

“Oh good, I’m glad my opinion was approved by the S&B God.” Wonwoo said, pretending to bow to Minghao.

 

Minghao giggled. 

 

Minghao fucking  _ giggled _ . 

 

He giggled a giggle he never thought was possible of him to giggle. It sounded of pure joy, maybe even a hint of love was hidden in between each seam. Not only that, it was  _ loud _ . It was probably the loudest Minghao has been since he was a baby. He didn’t even think it was possible for him to react so boisterous, but he felt it spew up from his chest, unable to control it as if it had a mind of its own.

Wonwoo’s expression made it clear that he was taken back a bit. Minghao unconsciously covered his mouth with both hands, muttering a “sorry” behind his palms. 

“Why are you sorry? I feel proud of myself now that I got to make you laugh like that.” Wonwoo reassured.

“I- I’ve never done that before, not even with Jun.”   
  
“Oh my god, did I make history? Did I make THE Minghao giggle like that? My god, I just…,” Wonwoo started to pretend to cry, “I just wanna thank my mom and all the people that told me I could do it.”

Minghao giggled again, this time letting himself be a little less shy with it. Wonwoo smiled, “I love your giggle, it’s so pure.”

Minghao blushed like a motherfucker, “Oh, thank you.” He bit his inner lip and tried to control his breathing. 

Minghao opened his mouth to say something, but the lunch bell rang, silencing him. 

“Aw damn it, that was too quick. You know, you’re cousin’s right about you being great to talk to. We should hang out more! Can I see your class schedule?” Wonwoo asked.

Minghao nodded, his shaky hands fumbled through his backpack until he found the paper. Wonwoo gave a glance at it, “Hey, your last period is nearby mine and Junhui’s. We all should hang out together after school sometime!”   


Minghao beamed a wide smile, “That’d be cool.”

“Yeah, it would! I’ll be sure to bring it up to him next period. Alright, then, I’ll see you!” Wonwoo said after patting Minghao on the back. He was stronger than Minghao thought.

Minghao just stood there, taking in all that happened. Wonwoo is so nice to him for no reason, maybe that’s just part of his character, or maybe… No, no Wonwoo isn’t like that.

 

Is he?

 

Maybe it’s just wishful thinking on Minghao’s part. Junhui might have told Wonwoo to be extra nice because there wasn’t going to be much talking on Minghao’s part. Or maybe Wonwoo feels bad at how awkward and stiff he is that he’s overly sweet and wanted to compliment him a lot to bring up his confidence. Minghao wanted to crawl in a hole and hide forever at the thought of Wonwoo having pity on his shitty social skills. 

Even if he was just being nice, is there a chance that Wonwoo was interested in Minghao? Why would he? He’s most likely not gay in the first place, but even if he was, there are other more attractive and outgoing guys than Minghao. He probably has a reputation just from his name.  _ Minghao _ .

Was it even possible for Wonwoo to be interested in guys, not minding Minghao being shy,  _ and _ actually finding him attractive? Minghao let himself imagine this for just a second, and boy was it a beautiful second. He imagined the two of them holding hands, hugging, etc. It felt...warm.

Minghao pictured Wonwoo and him in basically any place together, the beach, a park, a restaurant. Any place with Wonwoo felt magical. The thought of him kissing him on the cheek made Minghao smile stupidly to himself. Just having any skinship with Wonwoo would make Minghao squeal. 

“God damn it,” Minghao muttered to himself, “I have a crush.”

Minghao sighed as he went over to the bench to finally get his backpack and to go to his last period. He looked up to see Junhui running in the cafeteria.

 

“Hey! How’d it go?”


	4. Perfect

Winter break was coming way too fast. Before Minghao knew it, he was talking to a counselor about what new elective he should get for the next semester. Minghao sat hunched in his seat while his counselor listed all electives he can have.

“You can really join any one, but we wouldn’t necessarily recommend going into a year long class since you might not be able to catch up. There’s a whole bunch of other semester long classes: psychology, keyboarding, sewing..., et cetera.”

Minghao pursed his lips at the thought of having to meet a bunch of new people again, but that’s what he gets for choosing astronomy for a semester because it was an easy A.

“You know, if you do want to join a year long elective now, I heard that there’s an empty spot in Creative Writing…”

Wonwoo’s voice sang through Minghao’s mind.

 

_“...but I had to for a Creative Writing assignment…”_

 

_“...Creative Writing…”_

 

“Yes, I want to take Creative Writing.” Minghao muttered.

“Okay, I’ll just add that to your schedule. Luckily one class period of it.”

 

So there’s a guarantee that Minghao will be with Wonwoo.

 

“Thank you.” Minghao said in an unintentional monotone voice.

“Uh, sure. No problem.” his counselor replied. She scribbled down some corrections onto the piece of paper and then logged in some bullshit on the computer that Minghao could really could care less about.

 

Minghao is guaranteed to have a class with Wonwoo.

 

~ ~ ~

 

Minghao stared at the small schedule he clenched in his hand.

 

“Creative Writing - 532”

 

Minghao was walking past room 528, he chuckled to himself because that was probably his heart BPM right now.

 

529

 

530

 

531

 

“I’m gonna die.” Minghao hushed to himself, “I’m going to fucking die.”

 

532

 

Minghao opened the door to see Wonwoo already in the class, talking to the teacher a bit. He was the only student in the class, and got excited when he saw MInghao enter.

“Minghao! Did you get this class as an elective? That’s great, I wanted to hang out with you more, dude!”

Minghao wanted to pass out right then and there.

Minghao simply smiled and said “I wanted to see you too.” a little too quietly. Wonwoo then went on praising Minghao for introducing him to the Shadowman and Blankman comic. “He’s the person I owe to for doing such a great analysis on!”

“Oh, well I have much respect for you already,” the teacher stated, “You could tell how much passion was put into it form Wonwoo.”

Minghao could only shyly smile as his overgrown hair shielded his eyes. Wonwoo then took his seat, patting down on the desk next to him. “Sit here! There aren’t many people in here, you can sit wherever you want.” Minghao happily obliged.

Minghao started to fall victim to drowsiness. He tried his best to pay attention to whatever Wonwoo was saying, he went from talking about his winter break to how cool Jun is and then to how he’s so motivated to write his own stories. All Minghao could do is shyly nod with his hand on his cheek. It’s not that he didn’t like hearing Wonwoo talk, no, he could listen to his rich voice forever; it’s just that it was already the last period of the day and Minghao’s hoodie made him so warm and Wonwoo made him feel _different_ and…

“Minghao? You alright? Ya gettin’ sleepy?”  
  
Minghao snapped up, “Sorry!”

“No, it’s okay! Here, you can use this,” Wonwoo said as he leaned over to his backpack. He pulled out a blanket.

Wonwoo folded the blanket into a nice, fluffed up square and placed it on Minghao’s desk.

“I- What?” Minghao questioned.

“What do you mean ‘what’?”

“Why do you have a blanket?”  
  
“Incase I get cold. Or tired. Duh! You can go ahead and sleep, we don’t do much in here most of the time. Especially on the first days of the semester.”

Minghao reluctantly put his head on the blanket. As soon as his head sunk into the soft fibers, that mushy feeling he gets whenever he looks too long at Wonwoo started to kick in. Minghao inhaled, it smelled like...boy. Not like the stereotypical sweaty gym clothes or heavy coats of cologne that is associated with teen guys. It was a comforting scent of not too sweet yet not too rough. It was like nothing Minghao has ever smelled before. It was so different, yet it was so calming. Smelling Wonwoo’s blanket was the equivalent to hearing soft piano music to an enchanting love song. The scent reminded Minghao of the last time he had to walk by himself at night during a rainstorm. It had the same peaceful undertone of all of the world falling asleep and the fresh cool air of the gentle storm.

Minghao fell asleep so fast that he was almost convinced Wonwoo was a witch or something. He must have drenched a sleeping potion on the blanket, because Minghao never blacked out as fast as right then and there. The cushiony material made Minghao feel so...safe.

His conscience didn’t exactly start dreaming, yet. His mind was still awake as he relived the past minute over again. Minghao focused on Wonwoo’s appearance rather than his personality. There was a lot of focus on Wonwoo’s personality since he gave off this certain charm to him whenever he talked, but there just didn’t seem to be enough time to pay attention to how Wonwoo was physically set.

One of the first things that conflicted Minghao was how big he was compared to him. Wonwoo was definitely not fat, that’s not what was meant when Minghao thought “big”. Wonwoo was more of a wide figure, a strong figure. Minghao felt really small compared to him. He was kind of scrawny, to admit. There was nothing wrong with it per se, but the contrast between Wonwoo’s wider shoulders compared to Minghao’s more narrow ones caught his attention. Not only that, but Wonwoo was a lot more sturdy than Minghao. Minghao was way more on the lean and lanky end of the spectrum, whereas Wonwoo was in the middle of not too buff yet not soft at all. His body seemed to have a good understanding of what being naturally fit was.

All of that was quite a significant disparity to his face. While Wonwoo did have eyes that when resting had the harshness of sandpaper, they also knew when to gleam and soften in the right scenario. His smile was simple yet so alluring, his hair was a soft charcoal black that slightly curled at the tips. All of that including his fair and clean skin, and it made Minghao think that Wonwoo was a real life doll.

The best way to sum up Wonwoo’s looks was that he was very “balanced”. He has the perfect type of lips that weren’t dramatically plump yet not paper thin. His nose is prominent but simple. The shape of his face is long enough to evenly space out all of the assets of his profile but not too jarring. Everything about him was balanced and perfect. Was he considered perfect? Everything about him seemed to have great effort put into to ensure that there wasn’t a single flaw to his appearance. There wasn’t anything that made him stand out of the crowd, yet he’s definitely not an average joe. He had the right amount of handsomeness that would make him a shining jewel amongst a sea of rusted metal. Most likely then, and obviously to Minghao as well, Wonwoo was considered perfect.

The image of Wonwoo that Minghao was adoring soon became sentient, coming closer to him and then- hugging him. Wonwoo rested his chin over Minghao’s shoulder, closing his eyes and letting out a small sigh. No words needed to be said for Wonwoo to send the message “you make me feel at home.” Minghao stood stunned, this was nothing like the mandatory hugs that all of his relatives had given him during the holidays. He was ill prepared, what was he supposed to do? There were no books or study guides for this type of manner. The only thing that could conduct Minghao was human instinct, but god damn it, his instincts were to panic and run away. Minghao closed his eyes and, as generic and mushy as it sounded, tried to let his heart show him the way.

He nuzzled his head onto Wonwoo’s shoulder, also starting to have that “at home” feeling. Minghao slowly wrapped his arms back around Wonwoo, noticing how badly his hands wanted to lock behind his back. His hands wanted to lock out anything in the world that could tear Wonwoo away from him. Wonwoo was his right now, he’ll give him back to the universe later. The grin on Minghao’s face widened as he couldn’t help but let out a few small giggles from all the butterflies in his stomach.

Minghao was dumbfounded at how much joy came out of such a simple act. It’s only a hug. He’s so happy over a hug. Yes, of course this isn’t _just_ an ordinary hug, but no words have even been said to him. He felt as if he had heard the best news ever, as if his life was changing.

 

Maybe his life _is_ changing.

 

Minghao’s conscience became spooked at the feeling of his outer shell moving. It took a few pushes, but Minghao soon jolted back up to life after realizing that the real Wonwoo was trying to wake him up; the bell had rung. The other students Minghao didn’t even hear enter in the first place were already packing their bags.

 

“C’mon Minghao, let's go home!” Wonwoo said to him.

 

“Yeah, heh, okay.” Minghao replied.

 

“Are you going anywhere after this?”

 

“Uh probably just somewhere. With Jun.”

 

“Ah, well, I was gonna go to this sushi place nearby for lunch. Can you come with? You can bring Junhui if you want.”

 

“Let me text him,” Minghao said as he pulled out his phone.

 

 **Mngh** : Wonwoo wants me to go w him to a sushi place do you wanna come too?

 

 **Jnh:** i got sum to do after school so u go on ahead with him

 

 **Jnh** : eat a shit ton of salmon roe for me

 

 **Jnh** : shits good

 

Minghao looked up from his phone, “He can’t go, but I can just go with you. By myself.”

 

“Alright, cool.” Wonwoo said. “We’ll have to take the bus though, my cars in the shop.”

 

“What happened to it?”

 

“My god, dude, it was the craziest thing! So I was on the freeway and the car in front of me…”

 

Minghao could never get tired of listening to Wonwoo’s voice.

 

 

 

 


End file.
